LUCY AND SAMMY DAVIS JR.

S3;E3
~ September 28, 1970

Directed
by Herbert Kenwith ~ Written by Sam Perrin and Ralph Goodman

Synopsis

When
Sammy Davis Jr. stumbles through the door of the Unique Employment
Agency and bumps his nose, Lucy and Harry are afraid of being sued.
Lucy goes to his film set to make sure he is alright and ends up
causing chaos.

Regular
Cast

Lucille
Ball (Lucy
Carter), Gale
Gordon (Harrison
Otis Carter), Desi
Arnaz Jr. (Craig
Carter), Lucie
Arnaz (Kim
Carter)

Guest
Cast

Sammy
Davis Jr.
(Himself) was born in 1925 in Harlem, New York. Davis was
a singer, dancer, actor and comedian noted for his impressions of
actors, musicians and other celebrities.
Davis’s
film career began as a child in 1933. In 1960, he appeared in the Rat
Pack film Ocean’s
11.
After a starring role on Broadway in Mr
Wonderful (1956),
he returned to the stage in 1964’s Golden
Boy.
In
1966 he had his own TV variety show, titled “The Sammy Davis
Jr. Show.” He became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the
nickname “Mister Show Business.”
Although this is the only time he acted with Lucille Ball, he
subsequently appeared on many award shows and specials, some of them
celebrating Lucille Ball herself. He died of throat cancer in 1990.

Irwin
Charone
(Chester P. Franklin) made
five appearances on “The Lucy Show.” The expressive character
actor also did an equal number of “Here’s Lucy” episodes. He
died in January 2016 in Maplewood, New Jersey, at the age of 93.

Mr.
Franklin is a next door neighbor of the Carters.

Steve
March
(Electric Guitar Player at Craig and Kim’s Party) is
the son of Mel Torme and the adopted son of the Arnaz family’s
friend, Hal March. Mel Torme appeared several times on “The Lucy
Show.” Hal March appeared on “I Love Lucy.” Steve
March appear in “Lucy and the Bogie Affair” (S2;E13) and wrote
the song “Country Magic” for “Lucy and Ann-Margret” (S2;E20).

Keith
Taylor (Fat
Boy at Craig and Kim’s Party) was a child actor whose career began in
1960 playing Harry Harrison on TV’s “Leave it to Beaver.” He
also played Tubby on eleven episodes of “McKeever & the
Colonel” (1962-63). His last screen credit was in 1987.

The
character has no lines but takes all the sandwiches off Lucy’s tray.

Jay
Dee Witney (Boy
at Craig and Kim’s Party, uncredited) was the son of director William
Witney, and as such appeared on such shows as “Hondo” (1967) and
“Bonanza” (1966). This is his only time working with Lucille
Ball.

Gary
Morton
(‘Night Club Manager’) was
a comedian who worked the famed ‘Borscht Belt’ in the Catskills
Mountains. He met Lucille Ball shortly after her divorce from Desi
Arnaz and they married in November 1961. At her request, Morton gave
up his nightclub career and became a producer of “The Lucy Show.”
Morton also served as a warm-up comic for the show’s studio
audience. He played the Emcee in “Lucy
and the Andrews Sisters” (S2;E6) and
will make one more on-camera appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”
Morton passed away in 1999.

Elliott
Reid
(Otto, Film Director) played
Edward Warren, a parody of Edward R. Murrow, in “The
Ricardos Are Interviewed” (ILL S5;E7) and
appeared in two episodes of “The Lucy Show.” This is the
second of his three appearances on “Here’s Lucy.”

In
addition to being the director, Otto is also the producer, and
financial backer of the film. Reid plays the character with a German
accent.

Joe Jackson (Script Boy) has only three other screen credits, according to IMDb.

Jack
Berle
(‘Audience Member,’ uncredited) was
the older brother of Milton Berle. This is just one of his
eleven uncredited appearances on the series. He also did two
episodes of “The Lucy Show.”

Eugene
Jackson
(‘Audience Member,’ uncredited) gained
fame as Farina’s older brother, Pineapple, in six of Hal Roach’s “Our
Gang” serials (1924-25). He
appeared with Lucille Ball in the 1963 film Critic’s
Choice
as well as an episode of “The Lucy Show.” With Sammy Davis Jr.
he was an uncredited extra in the 1964 film Robin
and the Seven Hoods.
He will be seen in one more episode of “Here’s Lucy”
guest-starring Ginger Rogers.

The
other teenagers at Kim and Craig’s party, Sammy Davis’ musicians, and
the Actors playing the Audience Members during the film shoot are all
played by uncredited background performers.

Although
writers Perrin and Goodman did the original draft of the script,
script supervisor Milt Josefsberg substantially revised it.

Buddy
Hackett had
a cameo in this episode but his part was cut from the final episode.

The
day after this episode first aired (Monday, September 28, 1970) actor
Edward
Everett Horton
died. Horton and Lucille Ball had appeared in three films together
before he played the amorous butcher Mr. Ritter on “Lucy Plays
Cupid” (ILL S1;E15) in 1952.

On
the series DVD, this episode is introduced by Altovise
Davis,
Sammy Davis’ widow. She speaks glowingly about Davis and Ball being
two geniuses. Altovise Davis died in 2009.

Lucy
says neighborhood grouch Mr. Franklin writes fan letters to Don
Rickles. Don
Rickles
(1926-2017) was an insult comic who appeared as a washed up boxer in
“Lucy the Fight Manager” (TLS S5;E20).

When
faced with a lawsuit, Craig tells Mr. Franklin to look up the case of
Jones v Dawson 1967. Lucy immediately assumes her son has been
ignoring his homework and watching reruns of “Perry Mason.”
Jones v Dawson is a fictional lawsuit. The surname Dawson
has been mentioned several times throughout the series. “Perry
Mason”
was a half-hour TV courtroom drama starring Raymond Burt that aired
on CBS from 1957 to 1966. Lucy Carmichael was fond of talking about
Perry Mason on “The Lucy Show.”

When
Sammy Davis Jr. first comes stumbling into the office, Lucy thinks he
is Harry
Belafonte,
who was considered one
of the most successful black pop stars in history for popularizing
the Caribbean musical
style. Davis and Belafonte appeared together on several TV musical
and variety shows. They were together on the cover of LIFE Magazine (above) in 1965 with actor Sidney Poitier. Lest anyone think that Lucy Carter thinks ‘all
colored people look alike,’ in the past she has also misidentified
white celebrities at first sight. It’s a character trait more
indicative of her scatterbrain personality than racism.

Lucy
offers Sammy the use of the office telephone as repayment for (she
sings) “What
Kind of Fool Am I?” The
song was written
by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony
Newley and
published in 1962. It was introduced by Anthony Newley in
the musical Stop
The World – I Want To Get Off.
In
1978 Davis starred in a Broadway revival of the musical and also did
a television special called “Sammy Stops the World.” The song
was briefly sung by author Anthony Newley in “Lucy in London”
(1966, above). In 1971 Davis recorded another Bricusse / Newley tune, “The
Candy Man” from the film Willy
Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
It was a number one hit for the singer and is still associated with
him today although it was not one of his favorites.

Sammy
telephones his agent Sy
Marsh.
This was the name of Davis’ real-life agent at William Morris who
left the agency to be Davis’ business partner.

Sammy
says his producer loves to sue and that his favorite words are “Here
comes the judge! Here comes the judge!” This
is a catch-phrase
from “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In” first spoken by comic
Pigmeat Markham and later by Sammy Davis Jr. The NBC show’s second
half hour aired opposite “Here’s Lucy.”
The
catch-phrase was spoken by Lucy in “Lucy the Conclusion Jumper”
(S1;E5, above).

When
Sammy’s nose swells to twice its normal size, Lucy makes the
inevitable reference to Jimmy
Durante
(1893-1980). The vaudeville comedian and singer’s trademark was his
big nose. He and his nose were often referred to as ‘The
Schnozzola.” Although he never appeared on “I Love Lucy,” Lucy
dressed up in a Durante mask to fool nearsighted Carolyn Appleby in
“Lucy Meets Harpo Marx” (ILL S4;E28, above right). In “Hollywood at Last!”
(ILL S4;E16) Lucy and Ethel see a caricature of Durante on the wall
of the Brown Derby that takes up two frames – one for his nose! The real Jimmy Durante and his wife made a wordless walk-on appearance in “Lucy
Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20, above left).

Setting
the scene of the most climactic scene of the film, the Otto the
Director tells Sammy that his character is opening with star billing
at the Sands
Hotel.
The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas was the setting for “Lucy Hunts
Uranium,” a 1958 episode of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.” The
Sands was briefly glimpsed in the Las Vegas strip montage sequence in
“Lucy and Wayne Newton” (S2;E22).

In
his act, Sammy does vocal impressions of:

Jimmy
Stewart
– who shared the dais with Lucille Ball and Davis on many
television specials and award shows.

Jimmy
Cagney
– using Cagney’s most misquoted line, “You
dirty rat!”

Dean
Martin
– crooning a bit of “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime” which
was a number one hit for Martin in 1964, although it was first
written in 1948. Martin had guest-starred as himself (and his stunt
double) on “Lucy Dates Dean Martin” (TLS S4;E21) and sang the
song in the episode. Davis mentions that Martin is playing at the
Riviera, which is coincidentally part of the plot of “Lucy and
Wayne Newton” (S2;E22) which includes a shot of his name on the
Riviera’s Las Vegas marquee.

Lucy
asks Sammy “What’s
Frank
Sinatra
really like?”
Although Sinatra never acted with Lucille Ball, the two were
off-screen friends. Along with Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford,
Sinatra and Davis were members of what was known as the Hollywood Rat
Pack. They all had extensive ties to the Las Vegas showroom circuit
and even did motion pictures together. A clip of Sinatra in the film
Guys
and Dolls
was incorporated into a 1955 episode of “I Love Lucy” where Lucy
performs at a showcase for the MGM executives. Due to copyright laws,
the clip was cut for syndication and is not included on the DVD.

Sammy
sings “And
When I Die”
a
song written by singer Laura Nyro. It was first recorded by
American folk group Peter, Paul and Mary in
1966. Nyro then recorded it on her 1967 debut album More
Than a New Discovery.
However, the song is probably best known for its third version by
rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears, which reached number 2 on
the US Billboard Hot 100 and
became a Gold record.

Lucy
Carter disrupts Sammy Davis’ flim shoot just the same way Lucy
Carmichael did to John Wayne in “Lucy and John Wayne” (TLS
S5;E10).

Sammy’s
huge nose recalls Lucy’s extended proboscis in “Hollywood at Last!”
(ILL S4;E16) although her’s was putty.

Line! Sammy
Davis Jr. stumbles over a few of his lines in the film shoot scene.